A Tiny Problem
by daytyper
Summary: Okay, so maybe Arthur was turned into a little kid and nobody knows why, and possibly Uther finally decides to show some interest in his son at the worst possible time and perhaps there's no sign of a great big dragon underneath the castle- but Merlin totally has this situation under control- no really he does- He's not over his head at all, he swears he's not! T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Merlin or any of its characters.  
**

**Now I've got the disclaimer out of the way...Hi guys! Thanks for clicking/ tapping on this story. In this the characters might be a little OOC (first time writing Merlin) but then again Arthur has an excuse considering he's a little kid. Later on he'll be more 'Arthur-ish'.**

**P.s _'italics' _Thoughts (Merlin's so far)**

**I hope you like it!**

* * *

Merlin had seen a lot of weird things, but this was just plain strange.

Instead of sliding into his nightclothes and slipping into his bed, Arthur had decided for whatever reason to all but dance around the candle lit room- pulling and twisting his clothes until he had almost successfully dressed himself. The prince had then proceeded to giggle- _giggle_- before diving on his bed and scrambling under the covers.

The still snickering blonde had looked like he was being swallowed up in a sea of blankets, squirming around trying to wriggle into a comfortable position. Generally Arthur would wait, calmly, for Merlin to leave before moving about- but not this time.

The young warlock had decided to close his slightly gaping mouth, clear his throat before looking away- perhaps Arthur had hit his head too hard in training today. There was mostly silence while Merlin accessed the mental stability of his master.

"Merlin, hey Merrliiiin."

'_Maybe Arthur found out I paid Riley off to clean the stables today and this is my punishment.'_

"_Mer_lin, over here!"

'_Definitely, he's trying to drive me into a confession.'_

The constant giggling stopped, filling the room with an almost eerie silence, "…..Merlin?"

Finally, after letting a small sigh escape, even if he was walking into a trap, Arthur was still his master, Merlin turned towards the bed. It was worse than he thought.

Arthur had somehow kicked all but one white sheet off the bed, the prince was propped up on one hand, the other clutching a pillow, blocking everything but wide blue eyes and chaotic mop of messy golden hair.

"Yes, sire?"

"No!"

The sudden outburst made Merlin swallow his next words.

"….No, what?" He tried gently, slowly tiptoeing over to the bed where his master had rolled over and violently pulled the lone sheet over his head.

"You're mean, I'm not talking to you anymore," came out a petulant whine from under the sheet barrier.

"I'm mean?"

"Uh huh, you were ignoring _me,_" Arthur's muffled voice broke on the 'me' as he tried to bury himself further into his mattress.

Biting his lip, Merlin gave in and punishment be damned, slid down beside the prince's bed and placed a hand on the white mound in the centre of the bed.

"Let's get you ready for bed, hey?" he tried whispering in the gentlest tone he could muster, rubbing his master's back.

There was a sniff, then shuffling as Arthur flipped himself over, pulling the blanket down until there was a set of blue eyes warily peeking out.

"Hey, there you are," Merlin grinned, playing along as he reached down to scoop up the dropped blankets and promptly tucked them back into the bed. Arthur sat up slowly, sliding his _thumb _between his lips, eyes dropping slightly. Oh well, he was a prince, he made his own rules.

Swiftly, Merlin repositioned his sire's pillows, pushed the now upright Arthur into a lying down position; and then pulling the blankets up to the blonde's chin. All the while Merlin could feel a pair of eyes watching him, tired eyes gazing up at him without a trace of anything negative in the slightest. Waiting.

"You're forgetting something," it didn't contain Arthur's usual undertone of 'you idiot' but the sound of a small child. Obviously Arthur had forgotten what 'not talking' to someone meant.

Merlin racked his brains, "…..Do you want a story? A kiss goodnight?" He hoped he sounded joking, practically envisioning the slap he was going to receive. There was another giggle as Arthur shook his head.

"G'night, Merlin."

"Goodnight….uh…A-Arthur, ummm, sweet dreams?"

Arthur closed his eyes, a content smile as he sucked his thumb.

"…..Don't let the bed bugs bite….."

Merlin flattened out the blankets and dimmed the lights, figuring with a blush what a field day the prince was most likely have tomorrow. He left despite the mumbled complaints that were issued as soon as he began moving.

When Arthur went for something like this, he went all out- not that the two weren't close- but usually they'd throw insults at each other so Arthur could reclaim any 'lost masculinity' that may have occurred by being nice. Arthur had been acting like a little kid, putting Merlin in a position he'd never been in before. Darn, he was good.

* * *

To say Merlin was late would be an understatement, the warlock in question had laid on his bed all night without even a moment's sleep. All he had done was play last night's event over in an endless repeat, a feeling of dread trickling down into the pit of his stomach, a little more each time as he thought of the morning. That also would make one wonder how he could be late, but as he didn't wake up he had no clue what the time was and spent a _little_ longer dreading.

Merlin tensed as he slipped into the prince's chambers, breakfast balanced on a tray in front of him- extra meat from the cook to 'soften the blow your head is surely going to receive'.

The curtains were still shut, but the bed was empty. Blankets hanging off the side of the bed.

The breakfast tray was placed on the table as Merlin expertly- despite Arthur's claims- set out the different plates of food and filled a goblet with water. There was a shuffling noise, Arthur was still in here, most likely waiting for the perfect moment to go in for the kill.

"Look, I know I'm late, and didn't do my chores and you're probably ready to murder me….." Merlin was cut off by a sudden weight on the back of his legs.

Looking down Merlin saw a shock of blonde hair and tiny arms wrapped around his legs, a hand disappearing up to what he assumed to be the mouth hole of the little child clutching him.

"Uhh, hi there?"

The child appeared to be in a red dress, sleeves folded over messily so that chubby hands could be seen. Even though Merlin didn't have much experience with children, his limited knowledge did tell him that they don't come up and hug random strangers. Especially in the room of the Crown Prince of Camelot.

"Wen," the child breathed out, relieved.

"When what?"

The child looked up, thumb in smiling mouth and startling blue eyes locked on Merlin's. It took a moment for the young man to realise that the child was indeed not a girl, just possessing angelic features. Also that those features and eyes looked terrifyingly familiar.

"Noooo, Wen," the child giggled, nodding up at Merlin.

It took a moment for it to click.

"Mewwen, Wen," the little boy said, as if it explained everything.

Wait. It clicked. The little boy knew his name. But how? What?-

A sudden pressure on the back of his legs distracted him from his thoughts, "Did you just wipe your nose on my pants?"

Innocent eyes were all he received. There was a pause. Those eyes, that face, it all reminded him so much of…..

"A-arthur?"

"Uh huh," the boy grunted, he having perfected the art of talking whilst keeping thumb securely in mouth.

"What? H-how? What happened!?" Merlin couldn't help but shriek, he'd be killed. Uther would give him a slow and painful death for this.

There was a small whimper before little Arthur let go of Merlin's trousers and bobbed away in his night shirt, disappearing under the bed. Another side note from his limited experience with little ones reminded him not to raise his voice too much or worry, it scared them. How to fix this?

"Oh no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell- why don't you come out from under there," Merlin cooed as he dropped to his knees by the side of the bed, " I was just a bit shocked, that's all."

Arthur stuck his head out from under the bed, took one look at Merlin's encouraging smile before disappearing back underneath with a mischievous glint in his now easy-to-read eyes. There was a small giggle that seemed to be muffled by tiny hand, it was rather cute actually.

"No."

"No?" Merlin played along.

"Yep."

"Yes?"

Cue another adorable giggle.

"Well I guess if you don't come out," Merlin racked his brains for something to say, "I'll just go, leave his royal highness here all by himself."

The young man sighed loudly and pretended to make as if he was about to stand up and leave.

"No!"

Arthur clambered out from under the bed and crawled into Merlin's lap, thumb never leaving its position. The child Arthur clinging to Merlin's neckerchief.

"Stay."

"Hmm," Merlin pretended to consider, "I don't know…..I guess I could stay."

"Yay!" The tiny royal cheered as he tried to get even closer to his servant- if that were humanly possible.

Little Arthur was extremely clingy, and just so…young and innocent. There was a part of Merlin that felt glad that he seemed to have the power for once- he had Arthur, his Royal Prattiness _himself_, listening to him and _wanting_ him around. He could easily see himself changing his thoughts to consider the tiny child clinging to him, see himself fitting into a different role. Merlin could see himself enjoying this, while it lasted. Of course the warlock was too caught up in his thoughts to consider the big picture.

"Hey Arthur, do you remember what happened?"

"What d'you mean?" Came the muffled reply in a cute- he could consider Arthur cute without fearing being slapped- babyish voice.

"Do you remember how you turned into a toddler?"

"Silly Wen, i'mma big boy. Can we go play with 'Gana wata?"

"Morgana?"

"She wikes ta pway with dollies, but I don't min'."

Wait. If Arthur talked about Morgana playing with dolls then he must not remember anything, but then how does he know who Merlin is?

Merlin was brought back to reality with a little chubby hand pulling down on his hair. Looking down, the warlock smiled, before detangling his master's hand from his hair.

"Yes, sire?" Merlin queried as he released the little hand clasped in his own.

Arthur quickly pulled down on Merlin's neckerchief, ripping it off. While Merlin was fixing it up he noticed he was missing a little weight on his lap.

"Wait, what?-"

The warlock looked up to see Arthur by the door, obviously trying to distract Merlin before sneaking out. Thank goodness the door had been properly shut, otherwise instead of having a small child glaring up at the door handle, he'd have a young prince running around an unsuspecting castle.

"Arthur Pendragon!" The young man cried as he dashed forward and scooped up the young royal, "what do you think you were doing? Trying to run around the castle, what would people think?"

There was a grumble as the child in his arms tried to push out of Merlin's hold.

"Oh no you don't! Tricking someone is not how you get what you want, next time you should at least ask."

"You're not my mummy, I hate you!"

That stopped Merlin from adding anything else to his rant. It was true, he wasn't Arthur's mother, he was his servant. In less than ten minutes he had walked in and already assumed the parental role in someone's life. And that scared him. How easily Merlin had moulded his loyalty to his master into…..this. How quickly had he accepted that the Crown Prince of Camelot was now barely out of nappies, he didn't even really question how. He guessed that it made last night make a lot more sense, of course Arthur didn't act so young, but still so childish.

Merlin raised the child in his arms up to eye level, taking in his master. The blonde hair on the tan child's head was more curly, lips fuller and possessing a little button nose on a rounder face. The eyes were undeniably Arthur's as the child who looked no older than three or four tried to glare defiantly down on Merlin. Arthur had one of his arms crossed over his chest, the other still not leaving his mouth, yet if the last ten minutes were any indication- Merlin didn't really expect much else. The prince also seemed to be slightly chubby, baby fat. But saying that, he was also so incredibly small and fragile looking.

Merlin quirked his lips up into a smile, watching as Arthur tried to keep up his frown. Obviously he was yet to be able to control his features like older Arthur did like an expert. Maybe Merlin was a bit harsh, but in his defence this was his first time dealing with someone so young and small, having someone who relied on him. It was all so new, so instead of continuing on, Merlin smiled and tried to defuse the situation.

"You're right, I'm not you're mummy- I'm sorry- I just…..don't want you to go and get yourself hurt."

'_Already I'm worrying about whether he'd get hurt and growing attached, this is bad.'_

"…I 'pose I don't hate you, Wen," it was reluctant though.

Merlin grinned, deciding that if Arthur was going to remember anything, he'd already have killed him so it wasn't as if he were risking his life. Now instead of reprimanding the child, he wanted to be in his favour again.

"I know, why don't we get you dressed properly, then we can go see Gaius."

'_And pray he has some form of an answer.'_

"Then maybe we could go visit Morgana, how's that sound?"

Arthur looked please, but still didn't look rather put out.

"Hey," Merlin said, lowering the prince to the ground, "if you want to stay all serious then that's fine by me."

Still nothing, even the offer of Morgana left the prince still tinged with annoyance for his lost freedom, or was it being yelled at?

'_I'm really bad at this.'_

Arthur grumbled something under his breath, looking away.

Merlin, without really thinking, quickly poked Arthur on his slightly rounded stomach, raising an amused eyebrow at how much the toddler jumped before bursting into a fresh peal of giggles.

'_That worked.'_

All traces of defiance and negativity were lost, Arthur smiled up at Merlin, or as much as one can with something in one's mouth- Merlin really needed to find a way to break that habit, or make it less frequent-before reaching out and grabbing the warlock's hand.

"kay, you're my frwend again."

Merlin gave a goofy bow as he silently wondered what on earth he could put the child in to wear, breakfast on the table completely forgotten.

If Merlin could keep Arthur happy, then maybe it could be simple, but could this situation ever be easy?

After dressing Arthur, he'd have to sneak him down to see Gauis and then find a reasonable explanation to give Morgana about why the prince was now an easily distracted little kid, then explain to Arthur why Morgana wasn't a child. There was also the knights and his royal duties and Uther. Let's not forget the questions like

'_How did this happen? And why? How long will it last? Is there even a cure? How does Arthur remember me? Will he remember this when he returns to normal? How would he tell Uther? Will he tell Uther?_'

So many questions. There was even a small part of Merlin that thought it would be easier if he just left now, leave this for someone else.

"Wen, I wanna dwess wike a knight!"

Merlin took a deep breath before squeezing Arthur's tiny hand, "Okay, let's see what we can find."

He couldn't do that to Arthur, he promised he'd be his servant until the day he died, and this was just a tiny hiccup. He was already kicking himself for ever considering leaving the now excited child. Oh he could practically hear the dragon laughing at him from below the castle- Merlin bet he has something to do with this.

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**Thanks for reading this far! **

**Please review to tell me what you think and if it's worth continuing.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Merlin or any of the characters, setting etc.**

**Thank you to all of you who reviewed, faved and/or followed. Your reviews really helped me continue this, as did all the favs and follows- it was great to see people reading and liking what I wrote!**

**Thank you to all who read the story, the first chapter and I guess the second chapter too, because you're here.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Merlin wished he could say that it was easy to sneak through the castle undetected and get to Gauis, hey, Merlin wished he could at least say they were undetected. Now thanks to the small child brandishing a stick saved from the fire because,

"Knights gotta have swords, Wen, wha' ewse dey gonna protec' the wadies with?"

At least two servants question Merlin's sanity, three question their own and half the castle believes that there is an armed assassin in the building whose sole purpose is to kill the King (Merlin really worries about the way gossip is spread in the castle, a four year old waving a stick about was turned into an armed assassin within three and a half minutes of his existence being known.)

At least they were almost at their destination, apart from having to go completely incognito and dive behind a few tapestries and curtains every so often to avoid hoards of gossiping servants or clusters of fearsome guards. There was also the issue of stopping Arthur chasing after the knights when they passed by briefly, the child having all but dived out from behind a statue- having to be dragged back by Merlin as he tried to join his 'brothers in arms'. It was a good thing the knights seemed to be deaf, otherwise all the scuffling and muttering and whining behind them would have caused some alarm…..Actually that was rather a disturbing fact, no wonder so many people managed to break into the castle!

"Okay, Arthur, let's keep going," luckily the blonde was yet to question all of their stopping and hiding, finding it some kind of game that he was thankfully still attempting to follow the rules of.

They were so close to the physician's chambers, just another staircase and two hallways. They could take a shorter route, but it would lead the two through a more popular passageway, not a good place to walk when trying to go unnoticed….had walking between Arthur and Gaius's rooms always been so hard and taken so long?

"Merlin!" The man in question was called to attention, quickly and unceremoniously, shoving Arthur behind him as Gwen materialised down the hall. If Merlin couldn't sense it, he would be sure that Gwen had magic that she used to appear at the worst of times.

"Gwen, what brings you here?" he managed. Placing a hand behind him for the tiny prince to grab so he didn't stray from behind him.

"Errm, I work here?" She didn't sound confused, but more like when she found Merlin looking through Morgana's dresses. A sort of exasperated acceptance of the weirdness that was the prince's manservant.

"Right, of course you-" Merlin cut himself off, waving his hand around blindly behind him, feeling for his master's missing hand.

"Do?"

"Exactly, took the words right out of my mouth, I've just been a bit- you know- lately," Merlin responded, flashing a hopefully-not-as-nervous-as-I-feel grin.

"Not to worry, most people only have to keep track of one shadow," Gwen grinned, placing her linen basket to the side before kneeling on the ground, "Hello there."

Arthur chose that moment to attach himself to Merlin's leg and peak out at the girl on the ground. One hand devoted to holding its thumb in Arthur's mouth and the other to clutch a stick, and, he still managed to wave.

"Well, who have we got here?" she kept her voice soft and sweet, but her eyes locked with Merlin's for a moment, just so he'd know who the question was really directed to.

Arthur's response, like any other little kid who received a kind word and gentle smile from a pretty lady, was to twist his foot and turn his head into the back of Merlin's knee.

"A brave and dashing knight, by the looks of it. Keeping Merlin out of trouble I see?" The blonde had the audacity to giggle before nodding his head. Gwen had successfully won Arthur over in less than a minute.

"….I can explain…."

Gwen stood, reclaiming her woven linen basket, pulling her eyes away from Arthur and up to Merlin. Just and sounds suspiciously like footstep began behind them, causing Merlin to draw his master in front of him and out of view from behind.

"There's no need. I understand," she quirked her lips.

"You do?"

"Of course, taking this route, hiding him from sight at the slightest noise, it appears that you've found yourself another Druid."

"Druid?" Apparently his tone caused some doubt.

"But, I mean who am I to say that you shouldn't walk this way? He is dressed in rather nice materials though-not that druids don't or anything- I mean he is well…ahh….what I'm trying to say is-"

Merlin smiled, clasping Arthur's hand and trying to casually slide past his friend as voices became distinct behind them.

"Don't worry, Gwen, I promise there is a good explanation for this, but right now we must be off. Until then could you- you know?"

"I won't tell a soul, I promise- bye sweetie, don't worry, Merlin will take good care of you!"

Arthur flapped his fingers in her direction, apparently even she wasn't worth giving his thumb some air. Not like it was a competition or anything.

The three parted ways.

* * *

To his credit, Gaius only raised a single eyebrow when the two males barged through the door, before turning back to his work. He didn't move away from the table he was currently concocting some foul smelling remedy at, just quirked a single brow in their direction.

"We have a problem."

"I can see that," Gaius agreed, flicking a vial with his finger until it was a suitable enough shade of purple.

"This is-"

"Arthur. I do know who it is, Merlin."

The dark haired man stopped, eyes glazed over with confusion, "Wait, what?"

Gaius looked up, but did not reply.

"You're not surprised, suspicious, at least the tiniest bit curious at all?" Merlin shot of theatrically, "and how do you even know who it is? Gwen thought he was a druid!"

The vial was emptied into a bottle before Gaius shuffled forward.

"Merlin, I have been the Pendragon's physician before Arthur was even born. Of course I remember the boy, I was present during his birth," he made it sound like he was the one questioning Merlin's sanity, all exasperated and almost yelling, "and to why Guinevere thought Arthur to be a druid makes me question what you've been getting yourself into."

There was a beat of silence, Gaius refusing to lower his eyebrow, Merlin freezing in his place- not knowing what to say- and Arthur thinking it was all another game and becoming a statue.

"Well, uh, the real problem we've got to be dealing with is that," Merlin cried out, gesturing wildly at the tiny prince; trying to move the physician's focus from himself and onto anything (or one) else.

His plan worked, surprisingly yet thankfully, and the eyebrow was lowered as the old man placed a crucial gaze on the now reserved, tottering blonde.

"How long has he been like this?" Gaius inquired as he made his way over to Arthur and tilted the child's small head upwards. The physician then did a damage control, examining wide blue eyes, making the prince open his mouth, assessing Arthur for any physical harm.

"Oh…um…I found him like this this morning, but I think whatever happened started last night- he was acting strange then. Like he was a little kid in his normal body."

"Well," the older man murmured, checking Arthur's hands; smiling when Arthur was happy to shove his fingers in Gaius's face, "thank you, my boy, that's lovely, ten I see- at least he seems unharmed."

"I don't think he remembers anything either, before he was talking about going to play with Morgana and her dolls," it felt incredible to the warlock to have someone to load all these sudden events onto, have someone help him deal with the burden building in his chest, "but he knows me and I don't know why."

"That is rather curious."

"Wen made Arfur a knight," the Crown Prince supplied as if it were an answer for whatever the men around him were going on about.

"I can see that, and what a wonderful knight you make," Gaius stood patting the boy on the shoulder, sighing slowly as if the last five minutes had aged him a lifetime.

Merlin had to admit that he did see a part of this that he loved, "well aren't you good at this?"

"Wipe that grin off your face, would you? I have had plenty of practice dealing with a prince, and just to make it clear, raising one is quite enough for me."

"He's not that bad."

"Merlin, I'm not saying Arthur is bad, but this is a young child, he needs twenty four hour care and I can't supply that. Especially with his temperament and constant need for attention."

"Oh."

The man supplied a half-hearted smile, "I have no idea how you've managed this. I'll see what I can find out about this with what you've told me, but I've never seen a de-aging spell done this flawlessly. Keep him away from Uther, take care of him, and trust me when I say don't let him out of your sight for a moment."

Merlin nodded, not entirely sure this went as he planned or as well as he hoped. He had been planning to be yelled at, for what he didn't know, but he didn't really get any further out of his problem than before.

The physician had suddenly appeared back over by the bench with an enormous book in his hand that he was leafing through. He questioned once whether that was all Merlin knew, and let out a sigh when there were no more facts to be given. There was a long silence, Arthur was very intent on sucking his thumb and staying far away from anything that looked remotely breakable, Gaius seemed to have trained the young prince well. Merlin acted like he was busying himself, while he really stood wondering what to do, both now and in the not too distant future. Gaius of course was reading, occasionally cross checking something he read with another equally thick book.

"Gaius, haf you seen my daddy?"

"No, your highness, I can't say I have," came the easy reply.

"…Wen?"

"Hmm?"

"Can we go fin' my daddy?" it sounded innocent enough, but this was Uther. The magic hating tyrant, Uther.

"Uhh…."

"We 'ook wata," that sounded fairly definite, "Pway wit' me?"

Arthur was looking up at Merlin with his suddenly huge baby blue eyes, head slightly bowed as he rocked from side to side. It was like he was giving Merlin a choice, as if he could say no if he wanted and it was what Arthur was actually expecting.

Thus Merlin spent the next ten minutes playing a game he didn't understand, with rules that Arthur seemed to make up and change as he went along. Merlin was fairly certain he was playing a mountain, or something, judging by the way the Prince kept climbing over him.

"Merlin, come over here for a moment," Gaius voice rang clear across the room and the young warlock was happy to lift the amateur climber off his head.

"….Wen?" There was that heartbroken voice from last night, "Wen pways with Arfur."

"I'll play with you is a moment, sire, I'm just going over there for a-" but Arthur had already huffed, turned around and started ignoring his servant.

Merlin shrugged and made his way over to the physician, "I see what you mean about temperament," Merlin muttered under his breath.

"You'll never get used to it, trust me," Gaius- wait did he smirk, was he enjoying this? He was too!

Merlin received a pat on his shoulder as a type of compensation. But as soon as the hand was removed there was a familiar weight on his legs again. Then came the determined and deadly serious,

"Up."

Merlin frowned, but swooped down none the less to pick up the waiting prince. He then began doing his best to not drop Arthur as the child squirmed around until he was holding Merlin's neck in a vice like grip. There was also an attempt at hair patting, but Merlin stopped him and the little prince seemed too distracted glaring at Gaius to notice.

"_Mine_," Arthur pouted indignantly, but there was a harsh edge to his clipped tone.

"I almost forgot how possessive Arthur was."

"Well that's one way to swing that mood around again," Merlin laughed, readjusting the weight in his arms as the child blatantly refused to be put down. Suddenly clingy Arthur had returned and Merlin couldn't really find himself complaining all that much.

"Don't joke about these things, here, read this," Gaius passed him over the book.

* * *

All in all Merlin spent the next hour reading through different curses and symptoms that sounded nothing like what occurred with Arthur. All of the enchantments had memories retained or something that would disqualify them- even the de-aging hex sounded off.

The boy in question was asleep in Merlin's arms, the sound of his thumb being sucked to death working as a kind of beat right beside the dark haired man's ear.

"Gaius," Uther's voice drifted from outside, and as if in slow motion, the door swung open.

Merlin did the sensible thing and dropped to the ground after clutching Arthur's head to his shoulder. Sliding under the bench he was waiting for the King to comment on what he just saw, but nothing came. Why did Uther or Gwen or _someone _always have to appear practically out of the woodwork just when things were going fine?

"I was wondering if you've happened to see my son around, I can't seem to find him anywhere. In fact nobody has seen him today, he missed his training with the knights."

"Perhaps he went hunting, Sire?"

"No, Arthur would have told me so before he left," the King's crisp, cold voice cut so clearly that it sounded like it were in Merlin's ear, "What about your boy, Merlin? He always works to shadow Arthur, doesn't he?"

"I'm afraid that I haven't seen either boys today, my lord, but I'll be sure to tell you if I do."

"Daddy," came the sleep filled whisper beside Merlin.

"Hush, Arthur."

Surprisingly the prince complied and all was quiet under the table until Gaius informed the two that the King had left.

"I wanna see daddy!"

Merlin blanked. He'd never have imagined Arthur so eager to see his father that the boy would actually go fully out of his way to see him without anything important or urgent to speak about.

"How about we go see Gwen? Remember her?"

Gaius looked unamused.

"…..'Gana too?"

"Yeah, sure! Why not, it's not like this could get any _worse_?" Merlin sounded slightly hysteric, Uther was seemingly going on a man hunt to find his son, Gaius couldn't find what turned Arthur into a child and didn't look too thrilled about visiting Gwen and Morgana. One of those girls believing Arthur to be a druid, the other most likely being able to prove it wrong and who seemed to have developed some type of hidden agenda after discovering the magic she possessed.

"At least Uther didn't see you two," Gaius supplied to ease the tension.

"Why can't daddy see me?"

"We're playing a game," came the absentminded reply, "you like games don't you?"

"Bu' I don' wanna hide fwom daddy."

Merlin really needed to see the dragon for some much needed advice.

* * *

**Thanks for reading the second chapter! **

**Don't hesitate if you've got any ideas, questions, comments etc. I'd love to hear what you guys would like to say.**

**P.S. Morgana and Gwen will appear in the next chapter, they were going to appear in this one but I didn't want to make this chapter too long. For Morgana I'm going for around the time she started to go bad, probably around 'The Witch's Quickening' or something like that.**


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